Swapping all towels to white from coloured...how do I use laundry bleach?

[RVN123]

I love thick good quality towels and am absolutely fed up of replacing my coloured towels (grey) as they are being inexplicably bleached with faded out marks. No-one will own up to it but I think its a combination of whitening toothpaste? hair products? I'm not sure. Really peed off as they were not cheap but I'm starting to have to fold them on the towel rail a certain way to hide the 'stains' (just where the colour has bleached out) so I need a solution.

So I've decided to replace all my bath towels for good quality 700gsm white towels.

I would like to keep them looking good by using laundry bleach for whiteness. I know about the Oxy action type powders that you pop in with the normal washing power, but does anyone use actual laundry bleach?

I've googled a bit and it said it is added to the 'bleach drawer' of your washing machine but I don't have one? Can I just chuck it in with the white towel/sheet load directly into the drum?
I was thinking of the Ecover Laundry bleach powder, or alternatively, I've seen solid bleach 'tablets' - can these be used in the washing machine?

I lived in the States for a while and I seem to remember this was a thing and it brought out my whites really well, but it doesn't seem to be such a thing in the UK?

Who uses laundry bleach for their white towels and sheets, what kind do you use and how do you use it in a UK washing machine?
Thanks!

Our patchy, faded, coloured towels still seem to get us dry. I even wash them with

... knickers

I use astonish laundry bleach in the drum I never use the drawer for detergent etc.

Everything in our house that might get body fluids on is white.

@MurielSpriggs

Our patchy, faded, coloured towels still seem to get us dry. I even wash them with ... knickers

Same.

We’ve just moved house and DH said why don’t we get some new towels. I said because our old ones still work! I know people like to impress guests with bright white fluffy towels but I see them as purely practical. If they get me dry, that’s good enough for me.

I run a bnb so need clean white towels for my guests. Good tips here thank you.

Why do coloured towels develop that horrible musty smell when white ones don't? I always try and dry them quickly either outside in summer or indoors on a radiator in winter, often still smell musty though which I hate

Try a machine dye on the existing towels - cheaper than buying new, but bear in mind the bleached patches might still come out a bit paler.
Ace Bleach is the best. I get mine in Wilko or Home Bargains as I've yet to find the white one in the supermarket. Ace in the white bottle is for whites - obviously - and in the green bottle for coloureds. I love the stuff.

@Privatesector

I run a bnb so need clean white towels for my guests. Good tips here thank you.

Why do coloured towels develop that horrible musty smell when white ones don't? I always try and dry them quickly either outside in summer or indoors on a radiator in winter, often still smell musty though which I hate

Get some Laundry Cleanser. They might call it something else now, but it's near the fab cond in shops and usually in a white bottle. Your machine might need a clean out if you don't use hot temperatures anyway. Constant 30 degree laundering will make clothes and kitchens stink after a while.

Ecover laundry bleach is fabulous but the ace laundry bleach you can buy in Poundland is also a god send.

I have white towels I've had for ages - the luxury ones from Primark! I wash them on a hot wash with a scoop of bio powder detergent in the drum. I don't use fabric conditioner. Occasionally I've used Tesco's own oxy action stuff. They are still white and fluffy. The last thing I want are needy towels that need cosseting.

I always wash white towels on a minimum of 60 degree wash, non bio, and towels are always white and pristine.
Occasional 90 if I have a good drying day and will get to see them billowing nicely!